Pissing on Trees
by zukone
Summary: It’s a story set as if “Quinn Misses the Mark” never happened. It involves Logan and Quinn and underhanded schemes. One person's perspective only. Final Chapter and Author's Perspective Up.
1. The Need to Pee

**Pissing on Trees**

By zukone

**Chapter 1**

**The Need to Pee**

All those other poor scrappy dogs would have to mark their territory elsewhere cuz he already peed all over this tree. You see, it had already happened. Homeless pups wandered into his domain either trying to take over or looking for handouts. So, he did what any dog would instinctually do: he'd bare his canines, maybe bark and growl too. Mostly though, he would mark a golden stream of back-the-hell-off. It was a message that needed to be sent. His things were his alone, and these were the biggest share, the juiciest steak, and the best piece of human leg any dog could ask for.

This analogy, he thought, was putting mildly what had really been going on. The truth was a little bit more absurd and he was a whole lot more twisted. He faulted his insurmountable and insatiable greed.

These were big picture thoughts though.

The very present offered another issue. Logan looked at a chunky man-bracelet on his arm and smirked to himself as he waited for his lady friend outside the library. What would he do when he saw the girl? Would he lie to her again? Take her by the hands, twirl her around and tell her he never new love until her. He smiled at his own cruelty. Poor girl. It wasn't her fault she succumbed to his irresistible charms. A laugh escaped his lips. That was enough of his own silliness. He couldn't take it seriously, so how did this girl? And what made this time so different than his other failed conquests? His lids enveloped his eyes slowly before rising again. Of course he knew. This time, he completely dedicated himself to the scam. His every action mirrored a boy in love.

While waiting and thinking endlessly about stupid things, he spotted Quinn just coming out the library and turned his full attention to her. When she caught a glimpse of him she waved and headed his way. In reaction, he hung his head then lifted his foot backwards only to plop the point back on the ground. He twisted it a little bit like shuffling before he lifted his head and smiled at her. It was rehearsed and all for good reason.

The girl could spot his big scam the most easily and the last thing he needed was any of his "friends" finding out about what he'd really been up to for the past three months. In order to cover himself, he needed to be, well, less annoying. Total change would be too obvious. So, he focused on being generally the same with an added "adorable" factor. It mostly worked because even with his newer red herring, easily-intercepted mini-scams, everyone seemed to like him better.

"Hey, Spazz." He said when Quinn finally arrived.

"Hey Jerk," she replied without missing a beat. "I thought you were allergic to books. So, what are you doing here?"

"Like it isn't obvious."

"Let's see. What would motivate Logan to do something as crazy as visit the library? There are three things I could think of. So which one is it?" she said turning to him, "Money, food, or some tawdry skirt."

"But your skirt isn't tawdry." That was the perfect adorable Logan move, he thought. Quinn punched him in the arm in mock irritation.

"Ouch. Okay, Okay. If I have to say one," he said before smirking, "It would have to be food."

Quinn squished her face as Logan started walking towards a hot dog cart. Clearly, it wasn't the answer she was expecting. Logan turned back as the girl stood there with the weirdest and most spazz-tastic look on her face yet. If he absolutely _had_ to admit it, he would say he enjoyed it very much. He rolled his eyes softly upwards before grabbing her hand and all but dragging her towards the hotdog-cart along with him.

Having sat at a nearby bench, they ate mostly in relaxed silence with occasional friendly nudges between the two. He wolfed his down. "Man, those dogs were good." He said. He crumpled his foil and missed the garbage when he pitched it. His body slumped over in disappointment, but he quickly recovered to look at Quinn who still had half a dog left. She rested it on her lap to reach into her pocket. After pulling out two dollars, she shoved them into his hands.

Logan dropped his head curiously to the side while observing her as she brought the food to her mouth. "It's funny how you won't let me pay for you." She chomped down a particularly big bite. She swallowed. He could tell it went down a little rough.

"Normal people say thanks…"

"Like either us is ever going to be normal." Logan glanced to the side thinking it over. "Thanks…" he coughed and roughly stuffed the bills into his own pocket. "So, what was the reason again?"

"I like being independent." The kooky girl stated before eating her last bit. It was almost dainty. Even the way she ate was a contradiction.

"I mean, it's just food and I don't expect anything out of it." Logan got up and reached a hand down. "I don't know if you knew, but, uh, I'm kinda rich." Quinn grabbed his hand and he pulled hard enough to lift her easily. She ended up with her face really close to his torso. Of course she didn't have enough common sense to blush. But then again, isn't that what made her… her. She soon straightened herself without much a do. The whole thing was a small aversion to the conversation. She had bought herself some time.

Quinn shifted her eyes right and downward for a moment then refocused on him. "Why does it bother you so much?"

"Because that wasn't always the case." Logan he exhaled. Behind Quinn, he could see a nerd-idiot hybrid approached ten or so seconds away.

Quinn started saying something, but he didn't really focus on it. Thinking about piss and trees, he looked at her sharply then cut whatever she was saying off with an abrupt, "I love you." He tugged her towards him and wrapped his arms around her. Squeezing her close, he attacked her lips with his own.

Just as Mark, the nerdiot in question, was about to pass by, Logan pulled his lips away lightly. Predictably, Quinn closed the gap taking his lips in full view of her ex. Smiling within the kiss, Logan gently maneuvered her around. She never got a glimpse of him. Heh. So, he did twirl her around after all. He noted that the sharp curves at the end of his lips betrayed any semblance of sincerity. Carefully and slowly, he softened them before they finally parted.

"Whoa." She started. "That sort of came out of no where."

"Well," Logan said. "What should I do when your... your lips were like juicy slabs of steak?"

Quinn pursed her lips into a quirky, laughter-stifling pucker. She finally blurted, "What am I going to do with you and your cheesy lines?"

His girlfriend knew how to cut deep, but it was all a part of the formula. "Not experiment on me I hope." He said. The exchange ended when he worked a mastered un-evil smile on his lips. And now they would be off somewhere to do some cute "couple" stuff.

As they went, he thought about the last bit of the exchange. He always thought a little bit of that womanizing, you-know-you-want-me-so-bad original grin spilled into some element of the smile, but for most observers it passed as polite and genuine.

The smile, overall, made life easier. Without that worked-over, hey-I'm-a-good-guy smile in his arsenal, his own crew hated his guts and tried to pry Quinn out of his arms. Even now, he felt that they, along with everyone else at PCA wanted them to fail. Though they had toned down their crowbar approach to their hooking up, it certainly didn't mean he trusted them not to try to "look out for Quinn."

In the end, he wasn't too worried. If they tried something, he'd overcome because not even the hottest, most leggiest, bomb-shell PCA or the world had to offer could tempt him away from Quinn, the girl that had everything to do with his purpose and position in life. Even now as he looked at her, he could know one thing. He wanted her. Well, to be more specific, he wanted her mind.


	2. The Legs for Which He Heels

**Pissing on Trees**

By zukone

**Chapter 2**

**The Legs for Which He Heels**

While Quinn was, granted, a cute girl, that wasn't at all Logan's motivation for hooking up with her. The whole scam had started a few months ago when he needed to borrow Quinn's irreplaceable project notes and was left alone in the girls' dorm room. Zoey and Lola, who had originally let him in, ended up having some horrible girl-emergency and said Quinn would be in shortly before bolting out.

Left on his own, he had more than one devious plan he could initiate. But then he thought about it and knew that Quinn wouldn't give him the notes if he did something so… Loganesque. Instead, he used the moments he had to contemplate life and one of the things he loved most. Money.

Money, money, money. Money was the reason for being. Money made the world go round, and, more importantly, money would provide him with the other things he loved most. He concluded, as he always did, that he was quite happy being rich and being able to get almost anything he wanted.

Under normal circumstances he would be done thinking and move onto something else. And he tried, he really tried not to be crazy in the head. He could blame the silence of the room. He could blame it on the extra minute before Quinn came. But really, he faulted the girls for leaving an untrustworthy narcissistic fool in their room unsupervised. Or was it his father's fault? But seriously, what were those girls thinking? He could have been dancing in their bras by now. Oh yeah, he needed those notes.

His thoughts went back to money and how he could get _almost_ anything he wanted. Then it happened. It was something that had never happened before. He thought further about the nature of money and his situation. There was one word that demanded his attention: he could _almost_ get anything he wanted… _almost_? Why would he settle for _almost_?_ Almost_ would NEVER be good enough for him.

As he thought, the link between _almost_ and money became clear instantly. Now, it wasn't something as deep as not being able to buy love because as much as people say you couldn't, the truth was you could. His dad bought, not only his love, but the love of every single wife he ever had. No, the _almost_ and money link was all about limitations, his limitations. His father was rich, not him, and if his dad ever cut him off again, he would have nothing. What if his dad thought he was too spoiled and left him with nothing when he died? You know, like to teach him some crappy life lesson.

His mind stretched and warped imagining different versions of him living an impoverished or middle class life, both equally hellish ideas. He started tripping and flashed back to when his father cut him off. "No," he screeched, "I was born to be rich." His mind scattered and vacated before coming back. He shook himself so he could focus, and he began to take in his environment. The only thing he could see though was an invention. His best description would be that it was a couple of wires and weird circuitry wrapped inside some kind of bracelet.

He grabbed for it. Quinn's inventions would be valuable in the market. He didn't exactly know what the contraption did, but he could figure it out and sell it for mass production. It was probably worth a couple hundred thousand. He lifted it up and flipped it onto his wrist in one single motion before readying to exit the room.

On the cusp of the grab and go, he realized that it was only one invention. It wouldn't sustain him. At least not for what he wanted out of life. Then there was _his_ obvious connection to its disappearance since he was the last person in the room. The goodie-two-shoes gang would come down on him, get the invention back and he would be back at square one. Even if by some miracle he stole this one undetected, he would only be able to steal a limited number of her inventions before he got found out.

A flood of different thoughts crossed his mind. In those thoughts he saw the anatomy of all his failed scams. Where he went wrong became so simple. Opening his mouth to tell someone was just one aspect. The other part was that he always shot for too little. He looked at the device. His thoughts came out of his mouth, "If I have this bracelet, I only have one thing. If I have Quinn, I'll have them all."

As instantly as the idea came up, he embraced it and decided to live the lie. He climbed onto a bed and sat crossed legged. Nonchalantly and knowingly, he leaned back onto his palms. Everything about the atmosphere told him that this time would be different: he was going to get everything he wanted. This time he was going to get away with it too.

oOo

Shut up he told it. It was in his head. From time to time, he would hear a voice, and when it spoke, it did so plainly. Today was particularly rough. Logan started to grab his temples. And he had a frickin' midterm in four hours.

When the talking migraines first occurred not too long ago, he thought it might be his conscience returning. But he knew the guy pretty well and it sounded nothing like him. Instead, they were throbbing truths that threatened his stability. Horrible, horrible truths that confronted his biggest lie. He dove his head under his bed covers leaving his butt sticking out in the air. Did he have to face facts so early in the morning?

He sighed. He knew scam wasn't perfect. At the center of it all, the truth stood tall. He couldn't control her. That's why he'd do almost anything to secure her feelings and everything to keep away stray dogs in heat. Usually that meant kissing her, and he kissed her a lot because it just so happened that ever since he started going out with her, suddenly almost every guy at PCA started sniffing at her feet. He admitted that a part of it was paranoia. But it was better to be safe kissing money all day than to be standing alone with millions of dollars walking away in the form of braided hair and ridiculously nerdy glasses. There was no way he would give up the promise of the good life without a fight.

He rolled out of his bed and dusted off his head hoping to dust off his previous self-doubting thoughts. Even so, he already hated the day. To boot, he'd have to spend the best part of it studying and going to classes.

He got his crap together, took a quick shower, and speed-walked/hop-bobbled down the hall, late to his first class. On his way, he spotted Michael happily flagging him down. Crap, he thought as he met his roomie half-way. He scowled at him.

"Thanks a lot for waking me up." Logan hissed. "I'm late."

Michael motioned with his hands waving it off. Of course the dude would ignore him. The guy never took him seriously. "This won't take long, I promise." Michael started. Logan felt like walking off and leaving him hanging there. "I'm here to relay a message from Quinn." His friend finished.

Logan's demeanor changed almost instantly. "Oh, yeah." Suddenly, he had all the time in the world.

"She knew you had a big test to day and wanted to help you out. So she made…" Michael paused as he went into his bag and pulled something, "…this for you."

Logan took the headband thingy, dangled it in the air, and looked at it. "Dude, she would _not_ help me cheat." He lowered it.

Michael scattered into his response. "No, heh. Of course not." Michael cleared his throat, "It works to give you confidence. She said she thought confidence was an issue for you when taking tests."

"Do I look like a guy who needs more confidence?"

"Yeah, she thought you would say that. She also said," Michael pulled out a piece of paper, "You need real confidence based on something you would believe. It uses your subconscious and deals with insecurities there."

Logan grabbed for the paper and Michael pulled back out of his reach. He wore a questioning look on his face. Michael grinned and curiously suspended it in front of his roommate again. Logan grabbed for it and Michael yoinked it out of his reach again. "I see." Michael teased. "Logan wants his littol love note." He chuckled.

"Shut up." Logan said. The boy was seriously getting on his nerves. But Michael only gave him a classic knowing look. Logan remained silent for a few moments and forgot about the paper. Instead he gazed lazily at the headband in his hand. His ever present talking headache subsided some as he considered it. He put it on.

"That was surprisingly easy."

"What was?"

"Psh. You know. Quinn was worried you wouldn't want to use it. I mean, you don't really let her experiment on you."

Logan shrugged his shoulders. "Why wouldn't I? This is a lot different than our usual thing. I mean she went through all the trouble to make it for me. If I didn't put it on, it would be like I was totally rejecting her. I mean, isn't there some unwritten rule that you cannot, under any circumstances, reject your own girlfriend?"

Michael nodded. "Yeah, I suppose."

"Besides, it matches the bracelet she gave me." Logan made a point to show it off. He probably made his friends sick with all the lovey-dovey crap he did. When they were around, he purposely went a little overboard in "boyfriend" mode. He'd give her the most obvious interested looks, he sighed loudly and fawned over the littlest things Quinn did, he openly cherished her gifts, and, his personal favorite, he always mentioned how much he missed his love muffin when she had just left to get a straw. The more it tortured them, the more satisfaction he felt. It was the only thing he could do to satiate his resentment for them without Quinn going ballistic on him.

Logan brought the bracelet close to his heart and sighed all the while struggling against the shimmer of twisted glee in his eyes.

Michael stuffed down what Logan could only assume was a gag reflex. It was very hard for Logan to keep the wistful, enamored look on his face while delighted evil thoughts threatened spill over. Thankfully, Michael's face opened in recollection. "Oh. I almost forgot," Michael said, "She said it won't seem like its working, but it will be. You have to wear it for a while to see the effects."

"OK, thanks. Got it. I gotta go. Catch ya later." Logan began to trek the rest of the way down the hall.

"Logan," Michael called to his back.

"What?" he replied irritated before turning back to him.

Michael paused a little bit, "You know we're friends, right?"

"Yeah. And?"

"Nothing, I just... nothing."

Logan didn't have enough time to think about all the weirdness of Michael trying to male-bond with him. He ran down the hallway. His teacher was going to crucify him.


	3. Newspaper Hurts

**Pissing on Trees**

By zukone

**Chapter 3**

**Newspaper Hurts**

"Are you trying to break me up with my girl?" Logan was talking to the two headed girl-dragon commonly known as Zola after his test. Hehehe. Those thoughts made talking to them a little more tolerable. They had walked up to him, sat at his table, and started giving him the third degree about Quinn. It would be more understandable had they done that three months ago. It was a bit strange. What was worse about the whole situation was that as soon as they came up and opened their mouths, his previously whispering headache started screaming at him. It hurt like hell and he didn't feel like chatting with the annoying duo. He put his hand on his head, just under the band, and closed his eyes as they talked.

"No. Noho. No. We wouldn't do that. Not when you guys are so happy. I mean, we really support you guys." Zoey said.

"Yeah," Lola chimed. "We never thought you'd change."

"And it's just so weird. I mean you always chased after different girls and you weren't serious about any. Now you have one girlfriend… And it's Quinn!!"

Logan could barely focus on a remark. He brought his brows down scrunching his forehead. His slid his hand up his forehead until his palm rested where his fingertips had been. Slowly but steadily, he pressed his head into his palm. He wanted to tell all three of them, Lola, Zoey, and the headache to shut the hell up. Instead he opted for a more gentle response directed only at the girls. "Yeah. And."

Zoey looked at him quizzically, "You ok?"

"Yeh. It's nothing. Just a headache. What's your point?"

"Well? Erm," Zoey started, but she didn't finish.

Logan opened his eyes and looked at them. "Why the sudden interest in me and Quinn?" he said releasing his head. The sooner he got the conversation over with the sooner he could deal with the headache.

"Uhm. You know. You see, we didn't like you guys together before and we… kinda weren't that interested in how you two got together. But after three months..."

"… who can argue," Lola said shrugging her shoulders.

"Anyways. We wanna know what made you want to date Quinn in the first place. Like, what's your love story?"

"Didn't Quinn tell you?"

"We never got around to asking, and Quinn avoids spilling the beans." Lola said

"Do I look like one of your little girlfriends? Come on. If Quinn's not telling you, why should I?"

"You probably don't have a good reason then." Zoey said cross armed and giving him one of those "Zoey" looks.

Oh, I have a good reason, Logan thought. It's called money and lots of it. He shook his head. She was baiting. Too bad he was fish.

"She was just too cute. She…" he paused a little bit then continued quietly, "She's hard torsdst"

"What?" Lola said.

"Huh?" Zoey said.

"I said, she's hard to resist!" Logan instantly felt embarrassed when it came out that forcefully. It was weird though. That was exactly what he was supposed to be saying. And he never felt ashamed for saying that he liked her, ever. For goodness sake, he never even felt sorry for scamming her. The only thing different he could think of is that Quinn made him that rockin' present. The headache ebbed, almost dissipating completely while a blush rested on his cheeks. The blush would have invaded his entire face if he didn't feel all this inner confidence.

"Rheeally?" Zoey said a little too interested.

"Yeah." He explained further, "She just broke up with Mark and all those frickin' dogs with 'lost puppy dog eyes' and wagging tails were all around her."

"Awe. How sweet. You fell for her because she's an animal lover." Zoey pouted.

"Yeah. That's it. It's because she was nice to animals." He almost rolled his eyes back but new better in this situation. How she didn't make the connection to what he was really talking about just behooved him… but then again, he never seemed smart enough to use, uhm, what was that English word, a smiley, a metagor? He hated these stupid moments in his head. At least this time it didn't also come out of his mouth. He looked at the bracelet. The daggon thing never worked right.

"That makes sense." Lola said. "If she would be nice to animals then she would be nice to you too."

Logan turned sharply to the girl giving her a murderous look. Zoey grabbed Lola's arm and said, "We gotta go." Zoey dragged the girl off the chair. "We're really happy for you." She said pulling her away further.

"Wha." Lola said while Zoey pulled her along, "I was in the middle of talking."

He could hear Zoey talking to the girl in a low voice as they left. "Trust me. You don't want to be here."

The boy grabbed his temples and massaged them for a brief moment before getting up to go. When he reached his room, he practically threw his things in. After slipping the headband off, he carried it in his hand. He rested his back on the wall and lifted his head up. It had worked. He cocked a half-smirk. He figured the second part of it would be to tell her that she was a big help. She would probably like that.

o0o

When Logan walked into the girls' room carrying the contraption in his hand, his girlfriend threw her arms around him and planted a hard kiss right on his lips. It only took half a second before his lips melded with hers. The kiss became soft, tender, passionate, conceding, needy, honest, and vastly different than anything they had done before. It caught him completely off guard, and he was a little more than confused.

Finally, he decided on a real move, an appropriate reaction. He brought his hands down from their hanging-in-the-air position, scooted in, and closed the door behind him. Was it…? Was she…? Well, this would be the natural progression of things. In an organic move, he wrapped one arm around Quinn, circled her around, and pushed her body against the door with his own. He slathered the side of her face with his tongue.

He tossed the headband onto one of the beds and brought his freed hand to her jaw line. He caressed it sweetly. His hands followed where his seeking eyes surveyed and landed somewhere between her shoulder and collarbone. He decided that that was a good spot. He freed it to kiss and brought his lips there. He was in a licking mood so he licked before kissing. He might give her a hickey. A thought for later?

He squeezed her tightly and he brought his kisses up to her salty face. A small, natural smile formed on his lips when he slowed and went to her mouth again. Then, he parted to survey her face.

"What?," he said softly. Immediately he loosened his grip. His expression became serious and his eyes darted around her face trying to read her further. Quinn had been crying.

He released her completely. Fears found themselves rushing to the forefront of his mind. Just like this morning and throughout the day, they said the worst things.

"That.," she said loosely pointing to the headband. Huh. … Oh, she was answering his question.

As his eyes focused on the headband, Logan's stomach sank. He had a feeling he knew what it was. Everything pointed to it. He should have seen it coming. Even so, he couldn't help asking, "What about that?"

Quinn was about to speak, but he cut her off. "No, let me guess. It could tell what the hell I was thinking right."

The girl nodded but remained relatively quiet.

"All this time, I thought. You were trying. Me.," Logan could barely complete a thought. It was the first time he understood that she was a lot more cunning than he had given her credit for. He leaned towards her. "Why'd you do it?"

"You're being pretty hard on me when you've had something to hide." Quinn looked down. It wasn't a disappointed look. It was more stoic than anything.

"Granted… but you never knew what was going on in my head before. There was no reason to. I thought I was the perfect… You gotta help me out here. I so don't get it."

"It wasn't me, OK."

His brow furrowed. "Huh." He said taking a seat. By the way she was talking all disconnected, he knew it what the end of the entire conversation was going to be. He swore every curse word in his mind. He was so screwed. On the outside, he was able to keep it all together. Then he looked at her. She hadn't even moved from her position.

He might have known the end, but he didn't know everything, and he was curious, but only about certain things. He really wasn't that interested about how Zoey got Lola to help set him up, or how the b-tch got Michael to betray him, or even how they all managed to ruin everything. He only wanted to know how it wasn't her fault.

Quinn didn't look at him much. She labored a start, but when she finally spoke it was steady. "Zoey was missing a personal item and decided to check the camera I set up. She came across footage of you the day you came into my room a few months ago."

"She thought I took her bra or something?" It was a cheap shot, he knew. And he wasn't trying to take the edge off. He just felt a little… jaded.

"It was a personal item." Quinn clarified. "That's when she started to suspect something. She used my invention without me knowing. All your thoughts transmitted to my receiver and I heard everything. You can imagine the rest."

It didn't cost him much to believe her. She was a bad liar. "Well," he said while messing with a lock of his hair, "At least you know."

"Yeah, I know," Quinn said. She took a deep and almost contradictory breath, "Please give me my bracelet back." She opened her hands for him to give it to her

He didn't even think about it. "No." he said, "You gave it to me. That means it's mine."

"I just want it back. Stop…" Quinn started, "…stop making this so difficult."

"Quinn, I get it. I think I already know what you're going to say next. But, at least let me keep this." His voice wavered a little. With all that internal dialogue and the chattering headache, he already knew he was a little unstable. The last thing he wanted to do was snap. There were really only two ways he would react if he did.

"Give it up, Logan." Quinn said.

"Convince me, then!" He yelled. There it was, the friggin' anger. He never yelled at her. "Convince me that it's all my fault! I dare you to make me feel guilty! I won't. I swear I won't feel bad about anything I did."

"If I take this bracelet, I only have one invention, but if have Quinn, I have them all." Quinn allowed his words from that day to funnel through her without the courtesy of an emotional filter. She should be balling her eyes out about it. But she wasn't. And it pissed him off. He could tell, though, that behind the 'strong' face, she wanted to stop. He could tell that she had felt cornered into saying it. He was gonna get up and yell at her to cry, to be pissed at him. That it was OK to have some sort of reaction. God knows everyone heard about it when she broke up with Mark. Why couldn't he get a damn reaction too? Maybe he was going to… he stopped thinking midway because she started talking. She was about to bring the end and he wasn't ready for it. "We have to br.."

"It's just a story I tell myself." Logan said plainly. Some kind of small self-deprecating laugh escaped his lips. "It's easier to tell myself, I'm conning you, you know." He raised his brows slightly towards her hoping she would understand. There was almost nothing from her, but she wasn't completely blank. He looked away.

"It's not like I don't know. I'm just a replacement for something you couldn't have." He looked at her dead-on and over-enunciated, "Markh."

Logan sighed. "I'm in it deeper than you and I've always known it."

Quinn looked downward. Guilt had won a small battle over her face.

He turned to her open eyed, "You know it too."

When she lifted her eyes to meet him, a worried look invaded her face. Her eyes filled with pre-tears. "This is all my fault." She admitted.

"For what? being so frickin' adorable?" He spun in the chair. The end was near but at least he got to say it.

"It's just that… those aren't your real emotions."

That's when Logan stopped spinning. He almost stood up but didn't. He spun again. "I know I'm a jerk, but I'm not that much of an asshole. Didn't your mind reader pick up on that? How could they not be real?" He had stopped at this point.

"Because..." Her tears splashed on her gesturing hands.

Logan all but jumped out of the seat. "With you, I always have like two thoughts going at once. Lately my make-believe story hasn't been playing as much."

The girl looked at him with a crinkled brow.

"You heard them too didn't you? My real thoughts have been so loud, so frickin' loud... telling me I'm not good enough for you. I'm second best. You'll never care about me like I do you. If I don't loose my mind when you near look at another guy. I keep thinking. Is that the guy? Is he the one who's gonna take her away… I'm not a very confident guy, Quinn. Not really. When I found out you made me… I just thought you knew me. I just. I love you, OK. I want you to love me to… but I know you don't. And it fricking hurts."

Quinn was near shaking at this point. She had been waiting with a pained expression for him to finish. She shook her head contritely, "It's the bracelet making you think that."

Now that was something Logan was _not_ expecting.

* * *

I hope you got that Logan basically had been consciously lying to himself. His the truth, mainly his insecurities, seep through in the form of what he describes as talking headaches.

There is only one more chapter left. This one was a bit melodramatic for me, but I tried to tone it down. The last chapter ... I may change. The ending isn't my normal style, I changed it from my original. So I am contemplating it a bit...


	4. Because Pissing Don’t Work So Well

**Pissing on Trees**

by zukone

**Chapter 4**

**Finale**

**Because Pissing Don't Work So Well**

The day it all started, Logan had been leaning back on his palms waiting for the girl to come in the room. She didn't make him wait too long. As soon as she walked in, he raised his arm with the bracelet and, though he had an inkling he already knew the answer, asked, "What is this?"

Quinn's eyes widened and she eeped. "My intelligence bracelet." She shouted while grabbing for it, "Give it back! It's dangerous in your hands."

"No," Logan said while moving his arm away from her, leaving her stretching over his body to get it. "I need it. I'm dumb."

"I know that," Quinn said leaning in closer to grab at it. "But seriously. I need it back." Her being that close to him wasn't affecting her at all and it sucked because somehow his breath caught in his throat.

Logan moved the bracelet away from her and she followed like some sort of magnet. He played around for a short two seconds before she effectively slipped and slammed onto his body. Quinn scrunched her nose leaving the pose looking and feeling far from romantic.

Logan, however, acted out the very opposite. Fingers splayed over his mouth, he gasped and said, "Oh my Quinn. Are you trying to seduce me?" He tried to make his face look as devilishly handsome as possible to finish, "Cuz I gotta tell ya. I don't mind."

"Don't be ridiculous. If I was trying to seduce anyone, it would be Mark." She said while climbing off of him.

"But you guys broke up.," he said rising up to follow. After briefly glancing at the bracelet, he flicked his wrists to bring her attention to it. "And, you're giving love gifts to some guy, a guy who likes you no less."

Quinn all but sneered at the comment. "That's it. I'm outta here." She said before she mumbled something too low for him to hear. He felt ok about it because she only sounded a tiny, tiny bit disgusted. She started moving towards the door.

Logan jerked his hand to grab her before she left. He could only snag her wrist and it was warm in his hand. He said, much differently than in his previous playful tone, straight forwardly, "I'm serious. I really like you."

It took less than a second for her not to believe him. "Let go of me," she said yanking her hand away.

"Sorry, sorry." He gestured apologetically. It was a stupid move he chided himself. He could only stretch awkwardly to rub his back.

Quinn looked up at him. He must have looked pathetic enough for her to soften her own tone. "This is like the twilight zone. Look, Logan, we can't do this to each other. It's wrong on every level."

"Then, let's just go out for fun, even if it _is_ doomed."

"I can't tell you how annoying you are." She said through loosely gritted teeth. There was a smile hiding in her eyes somewhere, but it went away with her answer, "No. The answer is no."

Logan extended his arm up in order to showcase the bracelet dancing on his arm. It slid. "Five dates," he said, "I'll return this to you after five dates."

"That's too many." Quinn snapped.

Logan arched his brow. Was she willing to bargain? Tilting his head to the side, he swung his arm down, purposely showcasing jingling the bracelet.

Quinn rolled her eyes all the way with an exaggerated slow head movement that mirrored the direction of her eye roll. As she moved he could tell the smile that was in her eyes was now hiding behind the flat line of her lips. It was something 'bout the way they tensed that made her "serious" expression come across as deliberate and untrue. She landed her eyes back on him when she was finished. Then she stared at him. Somewhere in the staring she slowly formed a phony, interested look on her face. "You know five dates is just too much 'Logan' for anyone to handle. And it isn't really fair to keep your… muscles away from all the other PCA girls." She attempted to slide her hand up his arm seductively but just ended up sort of jerking it up strangely. Logan smiled to himself. It was pretty darn cute. "You're just too hot." She said. The weak smile on her face betrayed her words.

"Yeah, you're right," Logan said turning away from her, "…but I want to be generous with you."

"That's out of the question."

"Think of it like this. You're using me and my money to have fun doing all the normal stuff you do, except it will be more fun because I'll be there." Logan paused. "Seriously, do you even want this back because I'm making it easy for you?"

Quinn looked at him. "One," she said.

Logan's grin went into full blown evil mode at this point. "Four."

"Two." the girl replied matter-of-factly.

"Three," Logan countered. He was sure she would take this offer.

"Two," Quinn said. His eyes popped open.

"Three!" He said firmly.

"Two… and if they're good I'll give you a third."

"I'll take it." He said with a satisfied smirk on his face. He'd make her fall in love with him on the first date he thought.

Whether it happened that way or not, he didn't know. He only knew that by the second date, she was into him enough to get a third date. They never actually had "the" official third date. It was only because of circumstances, though. He kissed her. She told him to keep the bracelet. They kissed again. And just like that, they were official.

o0o

Quinn was in the middle of explaining, "Logan... that bracelet you have on was an attraction bracelet… you don't really love me."

The teen boy walked precise steps towards her and, when he was close enough, put his right hand, the one with the bracelet, on the door behind her and leaned on it. He was just a little miffed. If there was one thing you didn't do, it was that you didn't tell go telling a guy how he felt about a girl. If she wanted to dump him, she just should have just done it. Oh wait, she had tried to do that. But he was still pissed. "No it wasn't, and yes I do." He said plainly.

"I ought to know my own inventions." Quinn turned her head and inspected the bracelet. She didn't turn back to look at him.

Logan tried to calm down a little bit. He pulled his mouth on one corner to say, "I know I love you." She didn't budge. He moved his head to get in front of her eyes and make contact, but she kept evading. The more he tried, the further she turned to the side. If it wasn't for her body facing him, her head would be facing the door completely.

"That's just an elusion." She said in a small voice.

"Why won't you look at me?!"

"Because I was the one who was guilty. I was the one who was underhanded. Okay. I promised I would never use science for evil…"

He surveyed her troubled face, and finally, everything made a little more sense. Logan understood why she wasn't as direct as normal. She was not too used to doing anything wrong. So, she probably didn't know how this worked. A lot of people will forgive you. He messed up enough times to know. He took a deep, sighing breath of relief before he started, "Look Quinn. I'm not condemning you. I don't know if you've noticed, but I've done some crazy things just to get what I wanted. If any one would understand, it's me."

"There's no excuse."

"There are billions of excuses."

"It's just that those first few dates were really fun. It was just supposed to be a little while. I'm sorry, OK."

"Are you not hearing me? I completely understand. We don't have to break-up."

"Look at you." She wined a mournful empathetic sound, "You can't even take it off. It's the self-defense mechanism I built in it." She released a short high-pitch whine.

"Alright fine! Now I know what it is. So it makes the wearer like you. Big deal." he waved off, "But what if I like liking you? You ever think about that?" He smirked at her. Mercy, he was trying hard. Be. Adorable. He told himself. "Huh, smart girl?"

Quinn covered her eyes with one hand. "That is so sweet." She said. Logan sighed into a relieved smile. With Quinn's next words, it didn't last. "But no, I can't do that. You should be free." His smile faded. She liked him, right, and she had him. Why didn't she just keep him?

"I don't understand! If you have a collar for me, just keep it on." He huffed.

Quinn looked at him quizzically.

"Fine, if it's keeping us a part…" Logan snatched the bracelet off his wrist and slammed it on the floor in front of Quinn. The carpet muffled the sound a little bit, but the message of it was clear. "I don't need it." He said.

There was silence as they stared at each other. Finally he spoke, "I still feel the same."

Quinn gasped. "It's damaged you permanently." She reached her hand out empathetically towards his face, but withdrew it almost immediately while shaking her head resolutely. "I'll fix you. It's the least I can do."

"Quinn," Logan whined. He scraped backwards on his head with his fingers, "This isn't easy for me and you're just dragging it out."

"No Logan, don't worry. I'll take care of this."

Logan passed his hand through his wild locks again. His eyes, looking at nothing in particular, got wider as he went deeper into the stroke. "I'm really going to have to say it, aren't I?" He exhaled.

"Say what? Oh. I get it." Quinn said nodding her head. "It's wearing off isn't it? It's okay to say you don't like me. I mean, I can take it. I was wrong after all."

"Quinn, I liked you long before I ever put that stupid bracelet on!," he blurted. After he controlled himself a little bit he continued trying to explain further, "You are so, so… juicy slabs of steak." He sighed.

The girl jerked her head from side to side with a classic scrunched face. "What?"

"Oh come on. You heard me." Logan blushed. He knew this time it probably invaded his entire face. "Don't get me wrong. I like money and yeah, I was going to steal from you, no doubt about it. I'm a brat and I want everything I want… but I was stealing it so I could have something money couldn't buy."

"…money couldn't buy…?"

"You."

Quinn pointed to her self and said weakly, "Me?"

Logan nodded and smiled, kind of confident and arrogant. The rosey tint returning to his face killed the effect he was going for.

Quinn's eyes livened. Looking at him with sharpened, playful eyes, she smirked. He could just… ugh. She was pulling off the look he had wanted to. Her eyebrows went up knowingly. "Me?"

"Yes you!" He was thoroughly embarrassed. He looked at her pretty, pretty face. Logan reached out, and cupped it. Her eyes began to close.

In those brief moments of inching closer, he thought about dogs. Weird, but he did. Actually, he was thinking about certain types of dogs. Wild dogs were rough, misunderstood and mysterious, but never happy. Castrated obedient dogs always did the right thing. They barked and wagged their tails… for a cookie. Then there were the happy dogs. He always thought they were like those 100 pound dogs named Max. Instead of chasing the tossed stick, they disobediently jumped on their masters. They licked their humans' faces despite their protests and got away with it. In the end, although their masters reprimanded them, they always belonged to them. The could be themselves freely and never fear abandonment for it. They were happy… happy, lucky dogs.

Millimeters away from potentially censorable kisses, Logan opened his eyes.

"No way." he said as he pushed off the door and away from her. "Work for it, Quinn."

He started backing away from her. Quinn, about ready to punch him, yelled, "I'm going create a slave bracelet next."

Logan strained against a smile and it was obvious. This time, though, he didn't bother to hide the tint of evil going through. As she got closer to him, he quickened his backwards pace around the room and she walked after him. At a certain point he turned around and started to run. It was still slow enough to catch.

In the short game they played, he realized was going to forgive everyone for what they did today. He probably always knew that. But at least he knew now that it wasn't going to take nearly as much time as he thought.

Quinn tackled him from behind and they fell on the floor. She climbed his back and managed to turn him around so he was facing upward. She held him down by his wrists. "Stay still so I can kiss you," she said. He kicked his legs and wriggled to "free" himself. Admittedly it was a very weak attempt. Quinn finally broke down and started laughing, loosening her grip as she did.

"I swear if you fall on me, it would be so sexy." Logan said. Little bursts of soft laugher escaped the girl's lips as he sat up. After it subsided completely, she looked him in the eyes and whatever he might have been thinking about thinking of saying left him. The girl was just cute.

She leaned to kiss him. He swore he felt like a girl anticipating with his eyes-too-focused, breath-caught-in-throat, heart-beating-like-crazy condition. Finally, though, her lips touched down on his. It was tender.

_Want me_, he thought as he closed his eyes and let her lips dictate the kiss, _Want me bad enough that I don't have to go around pissing on trees._

End

o0o

**Author's Perspective**

Not my style to end so frikin' mushy with a kiss. I think the end works though.

In this story, I wanted to morph what I feel to be Logan's subconscious insecurities into open vulnerabilities though it doesn't seem so in the beginning. He may be a little OOC, but this is what I wanted for his character in this particular story. The characteristics and way of expressing is what I felt l he would be like in a growing stage.

I also messed with the issue of possessiveness and territory here as a central theme. I don't necessarily treat it as a positive thing. Instead I just examine it as a mode of insecurity. Nearing the end Logan's discovery, he realizes that he would rather be possessed securely as a happy "owned dog" than to be a wild loose dog that had to fight for his territory. Possessing someone or something also means, for him, that the other's (Quinn's) expressions of love can never be proven. The ultimate balance of the relationship really is that they both get to express and understand expressions of genuine affection.

In the end, you realize that both Quinn and Logan are free, yet accountable for being honest with each other. Logan more so than Quinn since this is a Logan-centric story.

I chose the title "Pissing on Trees" because that seemed to parallel insecurities and possessiveness well. Marking, while giving off the warning that something belongs is owned, is something animals do when something can be taken. The fundamental thought of it all is that they are not completely certain that something belongs to them. It can be questioned and challenged. The marking falsely reaffirms their ownership. The abandonment of wanting to do that signifies growth in Logan.

I actually labored pretty hard to write this. It takes me a long time to write. However, my writing, even at its best, needs improvement. I feel that there are major problems with the story. I feel something is missing or not expressed fully the way I want especially in Chapter 3. There are two twists in a row and I don't give too much time after the first before I reveal the second. That may be because I dislike overdramatic garble, and somehow I feel that in order to extend the scenesI would have to write the characters overly dramatic. This story was dramatic enough for me. Even my dramatic scenes I try to lighten up.

It was tricky to try to allude to the fact that Logan had been living an actual lie (in his head). I wanted to lay the foundation for the reveal. I tried to do this by making his interactions with Quinn come off as genuine even though he said he was lying. I tried to contradict his body language and actual works against some of the forced pervading thoughts expressed his mind. Though some of the time I had body language and thoughts fuse… The make-out scene in Chapter 3.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading. I would appreciate a critique from anyone willing to give it.


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